The use of protective separators between the front and rear seats of special automobiles such as police vehicles is well known. Separators used in police vehicles must protect the police officers in the front seat from a variety of weapons which may not be found during a physical search of their passenger. Similarly, it is desirable for separators to allow a number of other functions, such as communication between the officers and the passenger, and a clear line of vision for the officers through the separator. Additionally, the separator should also be sufficiently safe for the passenger during his placement in and removal from the car.
It has heretofore been customary in producing separators to custom fit the separator to the specific model of automobiles into which it was being placed. This was mainly necessary in order to prevent the passenger from reaching around the separator and attacking the officers. However, due to the expense of resizing the separators to exactly fit the automobiles being supplied, certain standard sized separators have been used. These separators are used to fit a certain range of automobile sizes, but often the sizes are not sufficiently exact and an excess space is left around the separator, thereby creating a danger for the officers.
In addition, it has become common in recent years for police departments to move to smaller, more economical automobiles. These changes often require purchasing all new separators at a substantial expense. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a protective automobile separator which can be fit into a variety of car sizes without allowing the passenger to have access to the occupants of the front seat.
Another object of this invention is to provide a protective separator which will not significantly obstruct the vision of the occupants in the front seat.
Another object of this invention is to provide a protective separator which is not likely to cause injury to a passenger while entering or exiting the automobile.
Another object of this invention is to provide a protective separator which allows communication between the occupants in the front and rear seats.
Another object of this invention is to provide a protective separator which is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install.
Another object of this invention is to provide a protective separator which can be easily transferred from one automobile to another.
Objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part herein and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.
This invention consists in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.